BCT Editorial – 3/17/09

This page was last updated on March 18, 2009.

Tone deaf; Editorial; Beaver County Times; March 17, 2009.

The editorial said, “Last week, insurance giant American International Group announced it would pay out more than $400 million in retention pay this year and next year.”

Not exactly; it’s old news. The AP on March 17^th reported, “The bonus problem wasn’t new, as many lawmakers and administration officials knew only too well. AIG’s plans to pay hundreds of millions of dollars were publicized last fall, when Congress started asking questions about expensive junkets the company had sponsored. A November SEC filing by the company details more than $469 million in ‘retention payments’ to keep prized employees.”

The editorial also fails to note the recently passed porkulus bill specifically allowed bonus contracts like these as long as they were in effect before February 11, 2009. An amendment that would have prohibited them was struck down. Yet more evidence all the Washington politicians now expressing “outrage” knew about the bonuses all along. As a reminder, only three “Republicans” [Collins (ME), Snowe (ME), & Specter (PA)] – all in the Senate – voted for the porkulus bill.

Politicians and pundits (including Times editorial authors) of all ideologies are feigning ignorance for purely self-serving reasons. You’ll note the Times apparently made no effort to educate its readers about the details of the situation. This has all the signs of an effort to divert attention from something bigger and unrelated that we don’t know about yet.